City home to the world's largest traffic monitoring system

A new traffic light has been installed at Montauk Highway and Barberry Road, an intersection near West Islip High School where a student was critically injured in 2011 while walking to school and where several car accidents have taken place. Photo Credit: iStock

New York City now home to the world's largest traffic monitoring system with a network that oversees 10,000 signalized intersections.

The city's transportation department announced Tuesday it will have 12,800 signalized intersections controlled by one management center by the end of next year and the service has already eased traffic in some of the busiest intersections.

"New York City is on the cutting edge of technology and I'm pleased to say that the DOT now can boast the largest single system of signalized intersections in the world," said Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement.

The city created the $100 million system in 2006 with TransCore and it has expanded throughout the five boroughs. It has helped reduce travel times 10% on corridors such as Third Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Lexington Avenue, according to DOT.